Shield
Introduction In War Robots, not every piece of armament is a damage-dealing weapon. Currently, there are two pieces of equipment used to protect your robot from incoming fire: the Ecu (physical shield) and the Ancile (energy shield). There is also the built-in energy shields exclusive to the Carnage and Haechi, and Fūjin, as well as built-in Aegis-class shields, capable of blocking all weapon damage types, and Absorber Shields, with infinite durability. The Aegis shield is featured on the Bulwark, the Blitz, and the Fenrir, while the Absorber Shield is featured in the Nemesis, Hades and Ares. The Raijin and the Rhino's built-in physical shields are deployed when used in Bastion mode, and Assault mode respectively. The Gareth and the Galahad have built-in shields that can be mounted on the left or switched to the front, slowing the robots down but allowing to fire while being covered. The Lancelot has a 3-piece built in frontal shield, and the Bulgasari has a side-mounted shield. All physical shields have a hit point value that, once depleted, will destroy the shield whether as an armament piece or built into a robot. The Bulwark along with its Aegis shield also has a built in physical shield, that deploys only when its Aegis shield is deactivated. Note: The Ember, Igniter and Blaze are the only weapons that can bypass both physical and energy shields simultaneously. Mountable Shields Ecu.png|'Ecu'|link=Ecu Ancile.png|'Ancile'|link=Ancile The Ecu Shield is a physical shield mounted on a light and medium armament hard-point on a robot. It protects the robot from every type of damage except area damage (splash), feature on rocket based weaponry and the Ember. The Ancile Shield is an energy shield that surrounds the robot in a 360º sphere. The Ancile protects the robot from all damage types except energy based weapons. The Ancile is a heavy hardpoint armament so it can only be mounted on certain robots with a heavy armament slot. Unlike the Ecu shield, the Ancile can regenerate over time with a rate of 3% of HP per second and reactivate when it has 20% health remaining. If an enemy bot manages to close in to less than 30 meters of a robot with an Ancile, his/her shots would pass through and hit the robot no matter what type of weapon it is. Robots with Built-in Physical Shields Physical shields are just like mountable Ecu shields, they are capable of blocking all non-rocket (area of effect) projectiles (they take double damage from kinetic projectiles). You should use them to move from place to place, as unlike most other ‘dome-based’ shields, physical shields will not regenerate. However, compared to other shields, physical shields can take more punishment to compensate for their lack or regeneration. Ability Based These physical shields require the robot to deploy (activate) them with their ability. Rhino.png|'Rhino'|link=Rhino Raijin.png|'Raijin'|link=Raijin Bulwark.png|'Bulwark'|link=Bulwark Tyr.png|'Tyr'|link=Tyr These bots must use their ability to activate their shields. Otherwise, the shield is classified as ‘inactive’, and will not protect you from enemy fire, even though some of them, like Raijin, have their shields clearly visible. These shields specialize in protecting you in skirmishes (not to be confused with the game mode Skirmish) and often have more health then passive physical shields, so when you get in a good spot and conditions are right, these will make you nearly unstoppable. Note that there is a bug that allows Tyr’s physical shield to be active even in Support Mode (but this bug is now fixed according to Pixonic themselves) Natural Natural physical shields are a passive part of these robots (no deployment activation required). However, in the case of the Gareth and Galahad, they can be moved (with ability) to protect the front of the hull. Gareth.png|'Gareth'|link=Gareth Galahad.png|'Galahad'|link=Galahad Lancelot.png|'Lancelot'|link=Lancelot Bulgasari.png|'Bulgasari'|link=Bulgasari These bots can utilize their physical shields without having to activate their abilities, however as previously mentioned Galahad and Gareth can use their abilities to move their shields in front of their hulls. These physical shields often have less health than ability-based shields because they are active at all times, so use them as temporary guards when, say, you’re trying to flank or capture a Beacon. However, Bulgasari’s side-mounted shield absorbs considerably more damage then all of the other natural shields, and exceeds the health of all other physical shields other than Rhino’s one. Bulgasari’s shield is almost designed as protection while in the open, as it will protect you for a long time at the cost of not being able to fire, however lock-on weapons such as Ion can usually counter this. Robots with Built-in Energy Shields Standard Standard energy shields are just like mountable Ancile shields, they are blue in color and can only block non-energy projectiles. However they can regenerate, span over a distance so they can protect allies (this can be a blessing or a curse, as shotguns such as Thunder will catch all of their projectiles, dealing severe damage to the barrier) and they will deactivate when depleted and only re-activate when its durability has regenerated to a certain point. Energy shields are often weak, however, like mentioned above, they can regenerate and protect allies to so utilize them to full efficiency. Instead of brawling like Aegis or Physical shields, energy barriers are suited for place-to-place moving in the open, however the amount of hits the Fujin’s shield can take makes it a beacon guarder. Energy shields are also great in one-on-one skirmishes, so you can take on more durable opponents as long as they have kinetic or rocket weapons. Carnage.png|'Carnage'|link=Carnage Fujin.png|'Fujin'|link=Fujin Haechi.png|'Haechi'|link=Haechi Note: Fujin’s energy shield can only be activated when it uses its Sentry Mode ability. Its energy shield cannot regenerate when depleted unless it is in Sentry Mode. Robots with Built-in Aegis Shields Aegis class energy shields are yellow in color and can block all weapon damage types (only radial explosions can bypass this shield type). They too, like energy barriers, can regenerate (with the exception of Blitz). They also have low hitpoints to compensate for their ability to block all weapon damage and their ability to regenerate, however in some way this is countered on each of the Aegis barrier robots. Blitz can run into the battlefield, firing three suppression buckshots. When one of these hit, the victim will be suppressed, which greatly reduces any damage it does to both the shield, Blitz and any allied robots. Fenrir is a walking armament platform, able to switch between two modes. When its fairly low-health Aegis is depleted, it can switch to its other form. This grants Fenrir damage resistance while allowing its Aegis to regenerate, giving it exceptional survivability. Bulwark is capable of switching to a physical shield to regenerate the Aegis barrier, however the Aegis barrier itself also has some health. Bulwark.png|'Bulwark'|link=Bulwark Blitz.png|'Blitz'|link=Blitz Fenrir.png|'Fenrir'|link=Fenrir Aegis barriers are exceptional at brawling, protecting allies from all weapons, which means that as allies bunch up to be shielded by your Aegis, you can take advantage and use them as meatshields and extra firepower. Aegis shields are best countered via Hellburner or Mercury. Robots with Built-in Absorption Shields Shields that can absorb the damage of enemy weapon projectiles to power-up built-in weaponry, they are pink in color and can negate all weapon damage types (only radial explosions can bypass this shield type). Robots with Absorber shields do not need to worry about their survivability, as Absorber shields have unlimited health and are impenetrable for all weapons. Nemesis.png|'Nemesis'|link=Nemesis Hades.png|'Hades'|link=Hades Ares.png|'Ares'|link=Ares Absorber shields can be played as anything you like, and try to become the center of attention with cover at hand. So far, all robots wielding these shields have built-in weapons. The Absorber shields will channel damage it has taken to the robot’s built-in weapons, so as you pummel enemies with them, you might need to find cover as the Pantheon are not that durable. Absorber shields are your main defence while using these bots, so be careful and only advance when Absorber is active. See also Molot.png|'Kinetic'|link=Kinetic Pinata.png|'Explosive'|link=Explosive Taran.png|'Energy'|link=Energy Category:Equipment Type